KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Bursa Malaysia ended the morning trading session higher, with the key index advancing by 0.71 per cent as healthcare stocks continued to lift the local bourse.

At 12.30pm, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose by 10.74 points to 1,533.50 from 1,522.76 at Friday’s close.

The index opened 2.47 points higher at 1,525.23, and moved between 1,525.23 and 1,535.12 throughout the session.

Market breadth was positive with gainers outnumbering losers 475 to 345, while 370 counters were unchanged, 1,026 untraded and 22 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.72 billion units valued at RM1.11 billion.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the healthcare sector came into the limelight amidst the resurgence in the daily Covid-19 cases, as the country recorded more than 10,000 new cases yesterday.

Meanwhile, the energy and plantation sectors may see some mild profit-taking activities, however, the earnings outlook should remain positive, it said in a note today.

Among the heavyweights, Top Glove jumped 28 sen to RM2.45, Hartalega surged 29 sen to RM5.89, Press Metal added 10 sen to RM6.31, Petronas Chemical gained nine sen to RM9.05 and Maybank increased five sen to RM8.31.

As for the actives, SMTrack rose one sen to 18.5 sen, Kanger inched up half-a-sen to 2.5 sen, while DneX slipped 1.5 sen to 99.5 sen.

On the index board, FBM ACE advanced 51.38 points to 6,237.12, FBM 70 strengthened 81.63 points to 13,560.88, FBM Emas Index firmed 76.46 points to 11,036.03, FBMT 100 Index bagged 72.72 points to 10,715.65, and FBM Emas Shariah Index climbed 114.12 points to 11,780.93.

Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index added 49.88 points to 15,835.57, the Industrial Products and Services Index added 1.44 points to 204.74, and the Plantation Index firmed 67.40 points to 6,611.26. — Bernama